Acts 20
“Are You Awake?”
Scripture: Acts 20:1-12
Memory Verse: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” Ephesians 4:14
Lesson Focus: The importance of church and the need to be “spiritually” awake!
Activities and Crafts:Coloring pages; Word Search and 1st and 2nd Craft:
Introduction:
Game: Choose 5 kids to come to the front of the room. Tell one of the kids that he will need to fall asleep on the floor and close his eyes. Before he/she does that tell them to take a good look at the other 4 kids. Take one the kids and remove him/her from the others (have them sit down with the other kids.) Tell the sleeping child to “wake up!” Ask him to tell you which kid is missing. You may play this several times with different kids. You may also play this game with objects (lining up 4-5 objects and then taking one away while the child sleeps.)
Tell the kids, this game has a lot to do with our lesson today.
Ask the kids, “When you sleep, what happens?” What do you miss out on when you sleep?” Now, sleeping is a good thing and a healthy thing that God has built into physical bodies. But there is a time to sleep and a time to be awake. When should you not be sleeping?
- In school
- When you are driving
- At work (for adults)
- At church?????
Lesson:
Acts 20:1—6 “Paul’s Travel Plans”
√ What “uproar” had happened in Acts 19? (a riot at Ephesus)
√ How long did Paul stay in Greece in verse 3? (3 months)
√ What changed Paul’s travel plans? (they heard about the Jew’s plan to kill him.)
Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”
Paul is following the Holy Spirit’s leading and although there are places he wants to go, it was very important that He listen and follow what God wants for him and for the people that He is teaching.
√ Do you believe God will direct your steps? How does He do it?
Acts 20:7-12
√ What day of the week was it? (First day of the week; Sunday)
√ What did the group of believers come together to do? (break bread – or have communion.)
√ What is communion? (1 Corinthians 11 – remembering the death of Jesus for us by drinking juice and eating bread.)
√ When was Paul leaving Troas? (the next day)
So this was their last time together.
√ How long did Paul talk? (midnight)
√ What was going on with Eutychus? (he was getting sleepy)
√ Where was Eutychus sitting? (in the window)
√ What happened to Eutychus? (he fell down out of the window)
√ How far did he fall? (three stories)
√ How did Paul revive him? (he laid on top of him.)
√ How much longer did Paul talk? (until daybreak)
This is the first every record of someone falling asleep in church!
Now I do not think that poor Eutychus was necessarily sinning when he fell out of the window. The verses told us that Paul had been talking for a long time and that it was very late. It also told us that there were many “lamps” in the upper room and that they all were burning bright. The word for lamps is actually torches. They were in a 3rd story room, all crammed together, in a hot Mediterranean town and the torches where all burning and probably making it hot and suffocating. Poor Eutychus was sitting by the window, probably to stay awake and cool off. But he just could not help himself, he fell asleep and fell to his death.
√ Do you think that God was surprised by Eutychus falling during Paul’s sermon?
√ Do you think God planned all along for Paul to do another miracle? The Bible tells us that the people were “comforted” by the miracle of Eutychus. God is helping this new church get strong roots so that they keep growing and following Jesus after Paul leaves.
√ Do you think that falling asleep in church is a bad thing?
People can fall asleep in church for many reasons, good or bad. But I can assure you that what God doesn’t like is someone who “acts like they are awake”, but inside they are “spiritually” asleep. They are thinking about what they are going to do after church, what their best friend said, about what they want to eat after church, etc, etc.
√ What is the reason that we come to church?
The Bible tells us in Hebrews 10:24-25; “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
This verse tells us four things:
- We come to church to help one another grow. When we come together in Church we come to “stir one another up” and to help us all do the right thing. We want to be more like Jesus.
- We are told not to misschurch. That when we have excuses for not going to church we are loosing out on the best that God has for us.
- We need to exhort (to encourage) one another.
√ What do we need to encourage each other about?
- To stay pure
- To read our Bibles
- To pray
- To love Jesus and others
- To worship God
- The “day” is approaching. The “day” refers to the end times and the judgment seat of Christ. Time is short!
Conclusion:
So how do we stay “spiritually” awake?
- To be “spiritually awake” we need to be born again. Our memory verse for today says that we are to arise and wake up from being spiritually dead by knowing Jesus as our Savior. Jesus is our light. He is the one who gives us the “light” of God. Our souls can only be filled up through Him and the Holy Spirit’s filling.
- When we know Jesus as our Savior, we need to stay awake and grow. When we stop growing and becoming more like Jesus we get dull and out of tune with God. The things of God become boring and familiar. Just like a guitar player has to tune his guitar so that he is playing the right notes; we need to stay close to God so that we are following the right path. When we quit reading our Bible, or don’t go to church…we slip farther and farther away and don’t realize that we become “spiritually dull.”
Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
We need to hungry for the things of God. We need to hungry for the Word of God and not be satisfied until we receive some food from the Word and apply it to our lives.
Illustration: What if you came to the dinner table and said, “Wow, that food looks great…but instead of eating it, I will just look at it!” Does looking at the food put the nourishment into your body? No, you have to eat it before the nourishment does what it is suppose to do inside of you. The same is true with the Word of God and our relationship with God. If we are not growing by studying the Word of God, then we become “spiritually” mall-nourished and we stop growing to be more like Jesus.
3. To be spiritually awake we need to go to Church. The Bible tells us not to forsake assembling or getting together. Basically it means to make sure that we go to church. Church is a time to grow, to help one another, to serve, and to have fellowship.
Growing in God's Love" Growing Flower Craft
(Tell the kids that we grow spiritually by reading God’s Word and spending time with Him through prayer. Tell them that you are going to make a craft that shows how you can grow in Jesus.)
What you will need: Construction paper, card stock, razor or Exacto knife, tape, glue, and scissors.
How to make:
1. Before class print out the Pattern and make copies onto card stock or construction paper. Cut open the dotted lines with a razor or Exacto knife. (Printing Problems?)
2. Cut out a stem from green card stock, 9" x 3/4" wide for each child.
3. In class show the children how to insert the stems in the cards so that the flower can be moved up and down to look like it is growing. Provide construction paper, glue, and tape so they can design their own flowers. If you have young children precut some flower shapes for the children who have a hard time cutting.
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